Cody Kater appeared to be the frontrunner all along in the battle for the Central Michigan University quarterback job.

Now it is official.

“Cody Kater,” CMU head coach Dan Enos said Wednesday morning when asked if he had settled on a quarteback.

The junior Kater was named the starting Chippewas quarterback, while sophomore Alex Niznak is second-string and redshirt freshman Cooper Rush No. 3.

Kater’s consistency and ability to move the offense in practices and scrimmages were cited by Enos as reasons he was given the reins as the starting quarterback, a decision announced to the entire CMU roster Wednesday in a meeting before practice.

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“At the end of the day, we just thought Cody played a little bit better and a little more consistent,” said Enos. “It was the entire scope of practices. We put them in team situations every day and chances with the first team, second team, and so on. It was very difficult, but we feel very good about it.”

Enos also stressed that the separation is not wide and that he feels all three of the quarterbacks are fully capable of running the Central Michigan offense in a game situation.

“I’ll tell you what, it was a great battle. All three of them did very, very well,” Enos said. “This is the best situation we’ve had. Last year, I didn’t really feel that either Alex or Cody gave us a chance to win compared to Ryan Radcliff. Now we think all three of those guys can be good players in this league and give us a chance to win. It was a very difficult decision.”

Kater appeared in two games in 2012, completing 2-of-4 passes for 12 yards. Since then, Kater and Niznak have both made plenty of strides and made it a tight battle which delayed the decision on a starter well into August camp.

“Both Alex and Cody have made great improvements since the spring and have each changed their throwing motion, Cody in particular,” Enos said. “If we insert Alex into a game, we believe he’ll do some very good things. It’s a good situation for us to be in.”

Enos added that he would not rule out putting in packages for Niznak to utilize his skill set.

“Alex is a very good athlete and we’ll continue throughout the season to stay on the forefront as far as being innovative with what we do with our guys,” said Enos. “Him and Cody both bring an element to the game where they can run, so we feel good about our quarterback run game.”

Kater was also made available to speak after Wednesday’s practice and discussed his immediate reaction to being named the CMU starting quarterback.

“Coach Enos met with all three of us individually this morning to let us know the plan for us here on out,” Kater said. “Right now, we’re just focused on beating Michigan and being consistent and staying goal-driven. I’m focused on leading this team to victories.”

After originally committing to Central Michigan when Butch Jones was the Chippewas’ head coach, Kater transferred to Cincinnati to follow Jones. He eventually moved on to Grand Rapids Community College, where he led it to an 11-0 record in 2011 before transferring to CMU last year and serving as backup quarterback to Ryan Radcliff last season.

“I’m not the kind of guy to look in the future and figure out those types of things,” said Kater on his journey to Central Michigan. “You just go about your business and if it comes full circle, it comes full circle. I didn’t know what was going on or what was going to happen a couple years ago, but for it to all come together like this is truly something special.”

Kater also spoke about his consistency as being a big reason he was able to make this leap.

“I’ve done a lot of things on a more consistent basis than what I used to do,” Kater said. “I’m just striving to be consistent every day and doing what the coaches tell me. I just need to get these guys the ball. It’s my job to get us in the right protections and the right runs.”

While Kater has been battling to win the job, he has not lost sight of the team aspect as he gets set to take the first snap Aug. 31 at the The Big House in Ann Arbor.

“Throughout the offseason, you’re already focused on Michigan. All of us were,” Kater said. “We knew that whoever was deemed starter, that’s who we were playing. We were competing our butts off to win the job, but we had to look at the grand scheme of things and Michigan was the first goal. It takes a bit of the pressure off being named the starter, but there is still the bigger picture.”

Now Kater gets his first start at The Big House, the largest college football stadium in terms of total seats and attendance figures.

“This is why you went to college to play football in Division I,” added Kater. “You wanted to play football at the highest level. You want to compete your butt off. I’m obviously looking forward to the entire thing. You’re looking forward to the gameday atmosphere, you’re looking forward to just being in the locker room. We’ve all been on the team a while now and we know what has to be done.”

NOTES: Defensive tackle Jabari Dean along with running backs Saylor Lavallii and Martez Walker have all returned to practice after missing time with injuries... Senior Cody Pettit is still in line to start at right guard... There is not much separation between five defensive ends in Kenny McClendon, Alex Smith, Jeremy Gainer, Louis Palmer, and Blake Serpa. All five will be in the rotation... The CMU starting secondary has yet to be finalized.

About the Author

Nate Schneider is a sports writer at the Morning Sun. He covers CMU football, men's basketball and baseball. Nate enjoys craft beer and vegetarianism. He struggles with his daily fashion sense. Reach the author at nschneider@michigannewspapers.com
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